...Or, what features are actually important in an entry level 3D printer?My youngest son is very much a "maker" - he loves to build various gadgets out of cardboard, rubber bands, plastic, basically anything he can cut, bend, or glue. He's found several projects online that he wants to attempt, but they require a 3D printer for several of the parts. His birthday is next month so I decided to try to find him an entry level 3D printer than he can use without too much frustration. I have zero experience with 3D printing but I am an experienced software engineer so I figure I can learn along with him.I've narrowed the choices down (possibly prematurely) to a handful of models, but each seem to have some but not all of the features I imagine would be useful to a complete beginner. I would like to get some more experienced feedback as to what features are actually important (and please let me know if I've got things completely wrong!).
  1. Heated print bed - From what I've read, heated print beds allow for more filament types, and tend to make the print stick better so there are potentially fewer problems. Non-heated print beds mean you can only use PLA (which might be ok for beginners, since PLA is pretty nice to work with).
  2. Removable print bed - Makes it easier to take the finished print off. Also potentially makes it harder to level?
  3. Auto-leveling print bed - I've watched a few videos and it seems like leveling the print bed might be a source of frustration. For a beginner, is auto-leveling a requirement/nice to have/not really a big deal? How about "assisted leveling?"
  4. Connectivity - My son has his own iPad, but I've only seen one company that appears to support printing from mobile devices. I have a laptop he can borrow, but having it physically connected for the entire print would be a problem. Once a print has been send to a printer, can the computer be disconnected? I'm assuming the printers with wifi would alleviate this issue.
  5. Software - The Da Vinci printers come with software that seems very much geared towards beginners, but I'm wondering if it will eventually become a limitation. I can probably figure out any setup problems without too much difficulty, but I don't want him to be forced to adjust a ton of settings in order to get a decent print.

Here are the ones I've been considering - I'm not against other suggestions but all of the other printers in my price range (preferably less than $300, definitely less than $400) don't seem to stack up to these:
  1. XYZPrinting Da Vinci Mini
    • Pros:
      • Cheap
      • Ready to go out of the box
      • Easy software for kids
      • Auto-leveling
      • Wifi and controllable with an iPad (in theory, but I haven't actually found any videos online that show if this actually works)
      • Automatically sets up based on the filament that is being used
    • Cons:
      • Expensive proprietary filament
      • Non-heated print bed
      • Seems to be a lot of problems when it comes to support from the company
  2. Monoprice Select Mini V2
    • Pros:
      • Cheap
      • Ready to go out of the box
      • Wifi
      • Heated print bed
      • Several filament options
      • Controllable on the device with the screen.
    • Cons:
      • Manual leveling
      • The software situation seems a little less user friendly
  3. Monoprice Voxel
    • Pros:
      • Ready to go out of the box
      • Wifi
      • Heated, flexible print bed
      • Several filament options
      • Touch screen
      • Larger prints than other options on this list
    • Cons:
      • Very top of my price range
      • Proprietary filament? (I wasn't clear on this, does it just have a proprietary spindle but any filament can be used?)

Sorry for the novel! I would appreciate any and all feedback!